Safety snap-hook.



R. ANTEAU. SAFETY SNAP HOOK. APPLIOATION FILED AUG.18, 1909.

Patented Mar. 1,1910.

attozwm o RICHARD AN'T'EAU, 0F TOLEDO, OHIO.

SAFETY SNAP-I-IOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 1, 1910.

Application filed August 18, 1909. Serial No. 513,474.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Biol-mm) ANTEAU, a citizen of the United States, residing at T0- ledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Safety Snap-Hook, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in snap-hooks adapted to be used on harness rings, tethers and the like, and has for an object to provide a simple and marketable device of this character that will prevent the accidental release of a ring from the device.

The invention consists of a single piece of wire looped upon itself to form an eye, by means of which it may be attached to the terminal loop of a harness rein or rope, thence extended to form shanks that gradu ally diverge and are oppositely curved at their free ends to form overlapping hooks which cooperate to form an open retaining loop, the extremities of the hooks being looped back to inclose the body portion of the hook and terminating in interlocking prongs which cooperate with the body portion of the hooks to form two compartments without the retaining loop, whereby to confine the ring when accidentally disengaged from the retaining loop.

With the above advantages and other objects in view, my invention embraces the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention showing a ring engaged by the retaining loop, as when in use. Fig. 2 is a similar view of my invention showing the ring engaged by one of the outer co1npartments after becoming partly disengaged from the retaining loop. Fig. 3 is an end view of the snap illustrating a similar position of the ring.

Like characters of reference designate similar parts in the views shown.

Referring now to the drawing, 1 designates the eye of the device formed by centrally looping a piece of wire upon itself and twisting the intersecting portions, as shown at 2. The end pieces of the wire extend from the eye 1 in shanks 3 gradually diverging and similarly but reversibly curved at their free ends to form overlapping hooks at which cooperate to form the retaining loop 5 that engages the ring 6 of the bridle, halter or similar fastener. The terminals 7 of Wire looped upon itself to form a c i of the hooks are bent back along the body portion of the latter thus inclosing the loop, and meet at the medial longitudinal diameter of the loop in prongs 8 which are curved in opposite directions so as to spirally embrace each other and lock the hooks together, while at the same time forming two compartments 9 and 10 without the retaining loop of the device.

The object of the two compartments without the retaining loop is to prevent the re lease of the ring from the snap, for when the ring is slid between the shank 3 and hook 4 in the process of disengagement it will strike against the terminal prong 8 of the opposite hook and be prevented from further movement.

In order to complete the disengagement of the ring from the position shown in Fig. 3 it is necessary to twist the ring underneath the end of the downturned prong and over the opposite upturned prong when the ring may be passed out between the superposed hook and shank positioned on the opposite side of the medial line. It is obvious that such combined movements could not occur except by manual operation.

In engaging the ring in the retaining loop of the snap, the movements above described are reversed.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it is thought that the construction and operation of my invention will be easily understood without a more extended explanation, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be made without sacrificing any of the advantages or departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is 5- 1. A snap-hook consisting of a single iece lbsed eye, thence extended to form shanks gradually diverging and oppositely curved at their extremities to form overlapping hooks remote from said eye, the extremities of said hooks being curved back to inclose the body portion of the hook and terminating in oppositely curved interlocking prongs meeting at a point without the hooks and cooperating with the latter to form two compartments, whereby to confine a ring when the same is accidentally disengaged from the hooks.

2. A snap-hook consisting of a single piece of Wire looped upon ltself to form a closed eye, thence extended to form shanks divergto form over-lapping hooks the extremities of which are looped back to inclose the body portions of the hooks and terminate in oppositely curved interlocking prongs Which meet at a point Without the hook approximately at the medial longitudinal diameter side of the latter whereby to confine a sna1 hook when the same is accidentally disengaged from either of the hooks. ing and oppositely curved at their free ends In testimony that I claim the foregoing 15 as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature 1n the presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD ANTEAU.

Witnesses SAMUEL ALLMAN, ADELIA ALLMAN. 

